Cat And Mouse Games
by BingoZero
Summary: Tenten thought that the spy mission would be easy, until she is captured by Kankurou. Now Kankurou has Tenten to use for his own mission.
1. The Mission

A Konoha morning is quite a beautiful sight. The brisk Autumn air with the warm sun light. The bright oranges and reds in the trees. The way one's breath hangs in the air. It is quite a wonderful way to start your day. Tenten was enjoying all these little pleasures as she bolted through the wide streets of Konoha. She received a message this morning, it arrived by carrier bird the moment after she woke up. She had been summoned to the Hokage's office first thing this morning.

Tenten was electric from this message. She had completed the Chuunin exam just two days ago; she knew that there was only one reason for this meeting. She is going to be promoted to Chuunin. She knows it, it's written in the orange and red leafs, in the brisk air and her breath that lingers, in the golden rays of sun. She knew that this was her year. Today was her day.

Here she was, up in Hokage tower, only a moment was spent waiting to be let in into the Hokage's chamber, next thing she knew she was being let in, and there she was. Miss Tsunade; the Hokage. There were several other people in there, some fussing over various reports, others for more pertinent matters, even Gai-Sensei was there, but Tenten's eyes lit up and only saw Tsunade and waited to hear her first words directly to her. "Congratulations Tenten-san, you have been promoted to Chuunin." Tenten didn't know if she imagined it or if Tsunade actually said it. Regardless she found herself thanking her "Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you Tsunade-Sensei!" "Yes, thank you Miss Tsunade, you've made one of my bright and talented pupil shine like a star in the night's sky!" Tenten was now being overwhelmed by her Sensei hugging her and weeping for joy.

She knew it was real now because Gai was stealing the spotlight. "Don't worry my charming student, you will now be as beautiful as your wonderful mentor now that you have earned your Chuunin vest!" Gai was giving the speech which felt slightly rehearsed, "But with this GREEN LEOTARD OF POWER you will acquire the strength that you will need to face any foe!!" Gai had already slipped the vest over Tenten's shoulder's and if he wasn't interrupted who knows if he would have gotten that leotard on. But Tsunade interjected.

"Thank you Gai, but I still have business with Tenten." Tenten's eyes lit up again, hanging on every word Tsunade said, "Tenten, for your first mission as Chuunin I have specially selected you. It will be a solo spy mission, are you willing to accept it?" Tenten was about to agree to anything when Gai grabbed her and got deadly serious on her, "Tenten, you are now a Chuunin, and as a Chuunin you have to be careful in choosing your missions. This is the only time that I will warn you to take this precaution, make sure you know what you're getting into before you get into it."

Tenten almost was completely bought in by Gai's sincerity, but then he winked at her and blew the whole moment. "Well," Tsunade continued, "I guess you'll need a few of the details, it is your mission to spy on Suna's Red Sand Puppet Army. But this is a simple mission, ever since the treaty, we have both been very open as nations. But for one aspect they have always been light on the detail, is their Puppet Army. They have only supplied us with the number of people enrolled in the Puppet Army and a vague range of numbers as to how many puppets they have in service. We need you to find out how many people are in the corps, and how many puppets they are using, if you can find any additional information that will also be greatly appreciated. Seeing as how we are on friendly terms there should be no major problems with moving in and out of Suna, but you have to find the information stealthfully. So this will be your first B ranked solo mission... if you choose it."

The sobering feeling of being faced with this being all in her hands was immense. But she knew it was time to test her mettle. She agreed. "Excellent," Tsunade clasped her hands, "here is a dossier of the mission, you are expected to leave this afternoon. Don't worry. This is a routine spy mission. We have people cross check information all the time." Tsunade then dismissed Tenten with a smile and began to go over the paperwork that the clerks were trying to push under her nose while she let Tenten know about the mission.

"This is wonderful Tenten!" Gai had left with Tenten, and he began blubbering "My beloved student is tackling her first solo mission! My eyes are welling with tears of pride!!!"

"Please, Gai Sensei," Tenten said, "You heard Tsunade Sensei, it's a routine case of cross checking information. It probably wouldn't be a B mission if it wasn't for the crossing of boarders."

"But this mission is all about crossing boarders!" Gai said while striking a pose, "Don't take this mission so lightly, the Sand have been able to keep their puppet army secret for years. We only know it exists. Don't think that you can just walk in grab a roll call sheet and call it a success."

"Don't worry, Gai Sensei," Tenten coddled, "I'll be able to take care of myself and I'll be sure to dig up something new that they didn't know before."

"It is good to hear my student take such initiative" Gai boasted, "but I will give you one warning to this regards. Unless you know what you're getting into, avoid the Doll House."

"What?!" Tenten, turned around, bewildered by that last comment. But when she turned to face Gai, he was gone. "I'm getting sick of his flair for the theatrics." Tenten thought to herself.

Noon rolled around, Tenten studied the dossier and found it pretty simple, there were a few weak links that she might be able to get the information from. But to be on the safe side she made sure she packed her usual arsenal, which had grown quite large in the past year. She said her simple goodbyes to family, friends, and teammates. She didn't want to tip her hand that she was so excited over the whole mission. The great gate of Konoha was opened just for her and she was let out to perform her mission.


	2. The Trap

The trip between Konoha and Suna is a long one. Lush forest become green fields. Green fields become rocky terrain. Rocky terrain becomes an endless waist land. Tenten had plenty of time to go over the dossier and plan accordantly. She found that most of the information was gathered through retired members of the Puppet Army. There was a list of potential people who may have more in depth information on this. Almost all of them are active but none were approached for information.

Tenten began to wonder what the big secret was about this whole puppet thing. The technique, though difficult, wasn't a secret. Most who've gone through the advanced lessons in the academy were shown how to make chakra strings. There were a few people who incorporated puppet techniques in Konoha. But for the most part it simply isn't practiced. Why did Suna develop this technique to such an advanced level? And why all the secretes?

Going over the dossier again Tenten noticed something. Next to each of the names on the list were the profiles that Suna issues to attract clients, where it listed off the rank that each person holds but neglects to include the dates which they attained them. Why was such a small fact like that kept secret? Under each of the Suna profiles there were notes attached to the bottom made by Konoha Intel. These were small blurbs about what they know of this person being attached to the Puppet Army and other functions in Suna. At half way through the list Tenten came across a very predominate name.

Kankurou: age 16, sex Male, blood type B, birth date 5/15, hight 167 cm, weight 61.2 kg, registration number 53-002, rank Jounin, status Active. Below these average stats was written. _Currently member of Red Sand Puppet Army. Currently a member of the Suna Council. Son of previous Kazekage. Brother of current Kazekage._ "Whoa!" Tenten thought to herself, "this dude here is a major wheel. If anyone has the information I need this guy has it."

"Hmmmm... Kankurou... Kankurou..." Tenten began thinking out loud. "Oh I remember, he's been to our village a few times. Kind of a creepy guy though. Geez, I hope he won't remember me if he sees me and blow my whole cover. Well, maybe then I can just use my feminine wiles. I'll have him eating out of the palm of my hand! M'whua Ha Ha Huaaaa!!!" Tenten began her 'I'm going to conquer the whole world with my good looks' maniacal laugh.

Not too much later, Tenten was inside the Village of Suna. With current treaties it was surprisingly easy to enter. Inside, life seemed to be bustling very much like life in Konoha. People were moving to and fro various shops and businesses. She saw a couple of ninjas running around the rooftops. From the look of the guy in back it was some sort of game. Despite the rumors, life seemed pleasant here.

Tenten adapted and started blending in with a crowd and moved with the flow of traffic. Before she knew what was going on she found herself in front of the ninja academy's training ground where it seemed there was some exam being conducted. What it was was the Genin graduation exam. It was not too unlike Konoha's, it proceeded in an orderly fashion. Testing abilities like chakra control, transformation, accuracy, brief hand to hand combat. Oddly they didn't even test to see if any of the kids could perform the chakra string technique.

With a cheer the professor announced that this year all the student passed their Genin exam. Head bands were passed out and then the professor announced that the students would be broken up into three man teams headed by a Jounin. Tenten found this all very nostalgic but didn't see how any of this could help her mission. She was starting to leave the crowd when she head announced. "Higashi, Minami, Kita! You three will be assigned under Kankurou-Sama!" the professor announced. Tenten spun around to see these three kids standing there together as a tall young man approached them.

This was the same man running around the rooftops when she first entered Suna, now he's here calm and composed, standing in front of these kids. He was dressed all in black with flowing lines intricately painted on his face. "Congratulations." Kankurou spoke as he handed each of the kids a scroll, "this is your first mission, follow the instructions on your scroll and show it to no one." After his last words Kankurou disappeared as if sliding out of perception.

The kids looked at the scrolls with wide eyes, then suspiciously eyed each other. They then went their separate ways to read their scrolls in privacy. Tenten began to follow behind the young girl of the three, Minami. She returned to her home to a warm reception from her family. Minami was more then happy to join the celebration but insisted she first went to her room to read what was her first mission. Tenten was stealth fully behind her the whole time, unseen even by her whole family. Inside Minami's room Tenten was there when when she opened the scroll and simply written inside was "Meet at conference room 126 of academy at 6:15am sharp for orientation."

Minami was excited over her first mission, but Tenten was bewildered. "Again with the secrets." She thought. "It's stupid to hide such trivial things. This whole Puppet Army thing is probably just a big snipe hunt. I don't even remember a single puppet being used during the attempted invasion by Suna... well, except Kankurou's." Tenten figured that the only way to find out what's so special about this secrete orientation would be to goto it herself.

The next day, bright and early at 6:00am Minami was sleeping very peacefully... while standing up... in her closet. And wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, or until Tenten dispelled the jutsu on. But meanwhile Tenten was already on route to the training center disguised as Minami. It's times like this, where she has to appear to be a 12 year old genin, that her short stature pays off.

At 6:17am she found conference room 126, not exactly 6:15 sharp but the right room. She slid open the door to find a small room. There was a low sitting table in the middle and office supplies all around. Minami's team mates were also there, sitting on cushions in front of the table. They shot an anxious look at her when the door opened. Tenten could tell that they were awkwardly just sitting there not talking, and just waiting for something to happen. She glanced them over, there were three cushions on the ground in front of the table and these two were sitting on the far cushions. She let out a snicker at the thought of how silly boys were that they couldn't talk to each other or sit next to each other. She then promptly sat down between them.

The boys began to loosen up and chat a little. "It looks like he's late." the boy to her right, Kita, said. "You know," Higashi, the boy to her left, said laughing sheepishly, "I thought that he intended this meeting alone."

"So what do you guys think of our Sensei, Kankurou?" Tenten asked trying to gauge what should be coming next.

"Well, you know, everyone from his family is super powerful ninjas, most are legions! But I heard they're all crazy with blood lust!" Kita said with waving arms to show how powerful the family is.

"Well, I heard he's vicious! Last group of genin that served under him he let get killed just so he could use their dead bodies as puppets to confuse the enemy!" Higashi said with a grave look in his eye.

"Yeah? Well, I heard he killed the genin himself! Just to turn them into puppets!!" Kita leaned forward, this time he was purposely trying to scare her, "And he likes to drink the BLOOD of young girls!"

"Geez, sounds friendly." Tenten was trying quelch the dirty joke in her mind, their stories were sounding stupid and her mind wandered.

But at that moment the door slammed open and Kankurou rushed in. He had a look of being annoyed by something else and deeply concerned over it. He moved right past the genin, and sat behind the table and began going through file cabinet. Tenten thought "Maybe this will be as easy as grabbing a roll call sheet and calling it a day, if I can go through some of those files."

The three were sitting there attentive, waiting for Kankurou to say something. Kankurou leafed through a few files, finally pulling one out and setting it on top of the cabinet. He then glanced at his three new students, "So, how long are you going to let that spy sit in with you?" he posed.

All three froze where they sat, but their eyes were trying desperately to stare at each other through their peripherals. No one wanting to make a false move. "My God! How could he have found me out so fast?!" Tenten's thoughts raced, "He only glanced and..." Before she could finish her thought as she was pulled back and had a knife to her throat.

Tenten's mind is in extra-danger mode, "Oh God! Oh Crap! I've been made! I've been captured! I had only began and failed so fast! What to do?! What to do?! Think!!!" Tenten was dizzy with panic, but then the boy behind her shouted, "You two better stay back or your little Minami will get it! I'm getting out of here!!"

The confusion that rang through Tenten sobered the panic away. "What?! Is this guy a spy too?! Did he just take me hostage?!" Tenten's bewildered mind tried to comprehend.

Kankurou is now looking at Tenten, "So are you just going to sit there and get your throat slit or do I have to do everything?" Kankurou stated lazily.

Tenten showed a slight hesitation then saw a streak flash by her head. And felt the boy that held the knife to her neck drop and disappear in a puff of smoke and what hit the ground was a man with a dagger sticking out from his head. She looked back at Kankurou and saw his hand only move slightly in recoil.

Kankurou then looked at Higashi, the other boy who was still frozen with terror, "You were completely useless in that. You're being flunked back to the academy. And you..." Kankurou now looked at Tenten, "Why didn't you try to defend yourself?"

"I..." Tenten had taken in all that had happed just then and remembered that she was still impersonating Minami, "I didn't know what to do, they never showed us what to do with a knife to your throat to escape in the academy!"

Picking up the file again, Kankurou responded, "The academy does try to stay away from real life and death training, but most Chuunins know how to escape such a trap." Now reading over the file.

Familiar panic raised up again, but this time she held it down, "But Kankurou-Sensei, I'm not ready for the Chuunin Exam yet." Trying to play her cards close.

"No, according to my file here you're already a Chuunin." Kankurou had the look of a fox ready to pounce. "That according to the list of new Chuunin's this year there were three from Konoha. And one of them is YOU... Tonton! The pet pig of Tsunade!!!!" Kankurou was standing up and pointing at poor Tenten.

"That's TENTEN!! You feeb!!" Ooops. She couldn't believe she fell for such a cheep trick.

"Oh Tenten." Kankurou now acting nonchalant, "I guess the file was wrong." He then crumpled it up and threw it away. "Why are you here?"

OK, this time she HAD been made, but she wasn't going to be captured again, especially not so easily. She got to her feet trying to dash away but felt herself trip and slam to the ground. Then all of a sudden Higashi, showing new life, tried to tackle her but only got a hold of her legs. Tenten lands a strong right hook on Higashi's chin but instead of knocking him back, half of his face comes off. About ten pounds of dust fell off the boy to reveal that a horrible puppet had a hold on her legs and was now climbing up her body.

It's many arms and chattering, ghoulish head unnerved Tenten and she felt the growing seriousness of what was about to come. Knowing that if you interrupt the puppet master while the jutsu was going on the puppet would be useless. Tenten threw a few dozen shruinkens at Kankurou's jackal smile.

Kankurou should have leap up and dodged the oncoming blades giving Tenten the opportunity to escape the small room but he just stood there. His face and body were riddled with the small throwing stars. His smile began to crack and these cracks ran the full length of his body then his form seemed to explode leaving in it's place a huge lizard puppet taking up half the room.

Tenten gasped at the sudden transformation. The puppet that was climbing on her now stood up and let her go. Kankurou's voice came from its head, "So, the kitten does have claws. What are you doing here?" Tenten was taking steps backwards but the man with the dagger in his head stood up too. His face was starting to dribble off to reveal a barrel chested puppet.

Dumbfounded by easily she walked into this trap, and how well it was orchestrated, all Tenten could utter was, "But how?!"

The puppets had her surrounded and were closing in. But a new movement caught her eye. The filing cabinet now stood up and looked like a man, he looked right at her, "I don't remember inviting you." he said.

In an instant Tenten's feet were whipped out from under her and she was encased in black, cramp enclosure. She could barely move inside it, but she could hear someone walking up and patting her prison. "My silly, little pet pig." Kankurou's voice penetrated the box, "Now do you want to tell me what you are doing here? No? Well, that's too bad. I have an appointment I have to keep. It appears I can't leave you alone, so I'll just have to take you with. Now, don't you even make a little peep. If you're lucky I'll kill you, if you're not so lucky Gaara will kill you."

A chill ran through Tenten's spine, that name told her that being defiant right now wasn't a good idea. Outside her prison she could hear the sounds of two of the puppets being assembled and then _poof_ sounds that Tenten associated with summoning scrolls. She then felt herself being hoisted up on someone's back and two large objects clunking next to her. Then movement. She could only assume that she was now in one of Kankurou's puppets and that he was running to somewhere with it on his back. She wished that she could believe that what was happening but after that first encounter with Kankurou, she didn't known what to trust.

As Kankurou slowed down to a stop she could hear him speak, "Oi, Gaara!"

"Kankurou." Gaara's response was straight forward, "How was the team of genin assigned to you?"

"Oh, they were all no good so I flunked them back to the academy" Kankurou playfully boasted.

"Really, Kankurou, I think your initiation test is too hard for the genin." Gaara said disappointedly.

"You know I don't like punk kids." Kankurou stated, "If they can't spot one flimsy imitator then they aren't worth my time."

"But they don't know they're being tested, it's day one for them and you don't give them any warning." Gaara continued.

"That's the whole point, Gaara, an enemy won't give you a warning!" Kankurou got on his soap box for this, "And I give the kids all the chances in the world to prove their skills. The puppet to their right is the obvious impostor, and will grab them if they don't make their decision in time. The puppet to their left is less obvious, but still should be easy to spot for the astute. Finally the puppet that impersonates me is a perfect copy, but if they have already figured out that the first two were importers then it can obviously be deduced that the whole thing was set up! And! If the kid fails to figure out any of the puppets, if at least they're competent to defend themselves from the attacking impostor then I at least won't flunk them!"

Tenten was shocked to hear this. The trap that she walked into and was so easily caught in wasn't ever set for her! It was set for Minami to see if she could recognize own her team mates!

"Yes, yes" Gaara moved on, "But you know, I don't like it when you keep secrets from me."

"Oh?" Kankurou was playful again.

"Why didn't you tell me about the female spy?" Were Gaara's words, Tenten began to feel the pressure of those words.

"Her? I guess it just slipped my mind." Kankurou playfully bounced the package on his back with these words. Tenten was dead weight at the bottom of it trying not even to think loudly.

"You know you need to report these things." Gaara stated, "I didn't find out until after the interrogator came to me and reported that a spy died during interrogation. You bring in a someone to the interrogator and you don't even tell him that you poisoned them when catching her?" Tenten almost stood up when hearing this. Kankurou caught another spy before her?! What the heck is this guy playing at?!

"It was stupid of him to assume otherwise." Kankurou said, "But what did he find out from her?"

Gaara paused, "Her name was Ejiki Kuki, of the Kuki clan from the hidden village of the Waterfall. She claims that she didn't come on an official mission from her village, but on a member of her clan's request. You already know what her goal was, she was suppose to report back to her clan with it and that's all we got from her before she died."

"Is that so? Well then, it would be awfully rude of me not to pay the Kuki clan a little visit and wish my condolences." Kankurou said in his evil playful manner.

"You know, I can't condole any actions, seeing as how you killed one from their village without proper merit." Gaara states.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, leave this little matter to me. The dead girl; everything." Kankurou seemed to be agreeing to the rules of a game.

"Do you want anyone assigned with you?" Gaara asked after a moment's hesitation.

"Oh no. You know me." Kankurou said while hoisting the puppet up on his back, "I bring my own troops."

"Yes. I know." Gaara's last words were haunting to Tenten.

Once again Kankurou was moving. This whole scene seemed surreal. It would appear to Tenten that she had stumbled into a trap set by a madman and he wasn't going to let her go any time soon. Why did he let her listen in on that whole conversation? He was obviously going to be leaving on a secret mission of his own, why share it with an outsider like her?

When Kankurou finally stopped she fell tumbling, feet over head, out of the puppet. When she got her bearing of her surroundings the first thing she saw was a young woman who had been tortured and nailed to a chair. Sights of torture never sat well with Tenten, but this onslaught of craziness that Kankurou seemed to be showing her, she was keeping her head together.

"So, my little Tenten, do you think you could imitate this girl here?" Kankurou continued in his playful manner.

Tenten focused on the girl in front of her. She recognized her as the person Kankurou was chasing the first day she arrived in Suna. Tenten pushed that thought away and transformed to look like the girl. She looked at Kankurou and asked "Why are you doing this?"

"Well it looks like I'm doing this for the _Red Sand's Puppet Army_." Kankurou said while reading through Tenten's dossier, "And look, the page with my name is book marked. Aw. This profile doesn't have my head shot next to it, you can't really appreciate how handsome I am unless you really get to see it."

"So," Kankurou continued, "you came here to spy on the Puppet Army corps. That's funny. That girl there came here to steal one of my puppets. Stupid girl though. She thought that if she got the puppet out of my possession I couldn't control it. A silly assumption by the girl, really. Well, Tenten, you've been caught. I now know why you're here, and I can surmise that this was a secret mission. So no one will miss you if you disappear in the dessert somewhere. So, TenTen, how compliant do you feel?"

"...What?" Tenten asked. His scare tactic came through, but what was he getting at.

"I'm heading off to this girl's village to see why they want my puppet, and punish them for not saying 'please' before trying to take Karasu. If you come with me, you might be able to find out what another village knows about our puppets, and you get to team up with a ranking member of the Puppet Corps. If you decide to run away during this mission you will never be allowed to enter Suna again, and have to goto Konoha empty handed. If you refuse, I'll kill you. So, Tenten, what do you want to do tonight?"

Kankurou knew how to drive a bargain. She was made. Tenten still didn't know what he really was driving at. But in the position that she was in, there were very few options. "Alright, Kankurou, I'll go with you on the mission."

"Good! Glad to hear that!" Kankurou said smiling, "You know, I haven't seen your face, Tenten. Why don't you stop your jutsu so I can see you."

Tenten hesitated, he request seemed to be weighed with baser thoughts. But Tenten discontinued her jutsu revealing her normal self to Kankurou.

"*sigh* Isn't that a shame" Kankurou coddled, "well, it's too late now. I've already made the deal with you. I guess I can't back out now, just on account of your looks."

Murder. Tenten wanted to murder Kankuoru, because she now knew why he wanted to have her tag along. He just wanted someone he could make petty jokes at through the mission. She was unlucky enough to stumble into one of his traps so he thinks she'll be the butt of his jokes for the whole trip!

"Come on," Kankurou says smiling, "I keep a pack ready so I can leave at a moment's notice. It won't take too long to get you some supplies." The wheels were turning in his head. Tenten looked at him and knew the only way to get some information now about the Puppet Army is to befriend this twisted man. But she could tell that he had plans of his own.


	3. The Talk

Kankurou and Tenten leave Suna together. Tenten was quiet for the first leg of the trip because of what Kankurou did before leaving. Before they left the interrogation room Kankurou pulled out a blank scroll and captured the dead girl onto it to be summoned later. He turned to her smiling, "The Kuki clan might want their little girl back and we might have some uses for her as well." Tenten is really starting to not like Kankurou.

By night fall they had set up camp. Tenten was starting to be more talkative. Maybe it was the hunger. "So, how are we going to find the hidden village of the Waterfall? As I understand, only members of their village know where it's at."

Kankurou was cooking up some small game he caught, "To most people it's that way. But every Kage knows where's it's at, I've already went over Gaara's maps. The village is useless, that's why no one bothers to put it on a map. A completely weak nation. They don't even have a Kage. I think that's what this is all about."

"What do you mean? Don't they have that Power Water stuff?" Tenten is now helping Kankurou with cooking.

"Yeah, it's called Hero Water," Kankurou snidely quipped, "it's a pretty useless performance booster, any decent village would have at least a hundred more useful forbidden jutsu that could take its place. But this Kuki clan, they're probably trying to make a grab for power, and they want to fortify their strength by adding puppets to their arsenal."

"Honestly, what's the big deal? This whole Puppet Army stuff? I don't get any of it." Tenten finally asked.

"If you can't 'get' it then, look at it from purely the numbers." Kankurou looked at her like she was an idiot, "If you have a hundred soldiers and train them to use puppets, if you at least train them to use one each, you now have doubled the size of your army. And half of your army cannot be injured. With every puppet a solider can control the more valuable they are. Most all of the villages have tried to make their own puppet armies or something to a similar end but most found it too difficult."

"So, the Puppet Army is all about number? You get more puppets you have more man power?" Tenten asked some more.

"No, more troops is only part of it. The art of puppetry ninjutsu is unique in that it's strength can't be measured by conventional means. If underhandedness and trickery could be measured we puppeteers would be at the top, and that is where real strength lies. When the full strength of the Puppet Army is used there isn't a force in the world that can stop them!" Kankurou boasted.

"If they're all so powerful, how come Suna was defeated during your attempt to invade Konoha?" Tenten cut his boast short, pulling off a small piece of cooked meat and blowing on it.

Kankurou growled at this interruption, "Because I was the only puppeteer there. The Puppet Army decided that they were not going to get involved with the invasion."

"What do you mean 'they' decided?! Doesn't the Kazekage and the council decide?" Tenten asked, hoping to uncover something.

"Look, things are run differently in Suna then they are in Konoha, alright?" Kankurou said in a manner to stop this line of questions, "The point being they felt that Suna's and Sound's combined forces were sufficient. And they didn't want to bring the puppets into Konoha."

"What's the matter with Konoha? Why didn't they want to bring the puppets in?" Tenten kept pressing on.

"It sounds to me like you wanted your village to get mowed over." Kankurou bluntly stated, "Like I said before, most every village has tried to make their own puppet armies, Konoha had attempted to mass produce puppets but they were garbage. As I understand it they abandoned them in one of their old training grounds. Now, I've had enough of your questions."

Kankurou continued, "The point I was trying to make was simply this: The Kuki clan probably wants one of my puppets to use as a prototype for making a small puppet force. So my plan is you're going to go in, disguised as Ejiki with one of my puppets. Once inside we confirm what they're up to, then kill the whole family, burn down their houses, and leave Ejiki's corps to burn with her family so that when the Waterfall authorities come, they'll make a complete body count, and we slip away and now nobody ever knows that our friend here paid me a visit."

"That sounds horrible!" Tenten cries, "You're going to kill the whole clan just because they tried to steal your puppet?!"

"I'm sorry, is a ninja mission in Konoha consist of cat sitting and radish picking?!" Kankurou began to get angry, "Yes, WE are going to kill all of them. The whole clan. If you help me in this I will tell you the real function of the Red Sand's Puppet Army. But if you feel more compassion for this dumb family then you feel dedication to your own village and complete your mission, then why don't you put a big gash in your head band right now and go off to live in the bad lands?!" Kankurou then grabbed a leg off the cooking hare and started loudly eating to deafen out any other of Tenten's questions.

Kankurou was right, Tenten needed to get his trust to get any information from him. But it didn't add up. He was beating his chest, over her loyalty to Konoha but what of his to Suna? He's willing to betray this information to her, a known spy, just for helping with this nasty job. Maybe he wanted to make sure Tenten's hands were dirty before sharing to make sure she won't go too far into details of how she got the information. Maybe he is looking for an ally from Konoha, so the two of them could trade information back and froth. Maybe it is something else?

Tenten ripped off the other leg of the hare. "You're right, Kankurou." Tenten said between bites, "Someone trying to steal your secrets deserves to die. But tell me, why am I different?"

"H'eh" Kankurou exhaled a laugh, "Gaara has a soft spot for Konoha, and it would break his heart if I killed every little spy that came by. So I'll give you a little information and a pat on the head. And Gaara will be happy."

Spending time around Kankurou is very confusing. Him helping her out of compassion for his brother didn't seem likely, but knowing his brother maybe it was out of fear. His knowledge of puppetry does seem very complete, he seemed to know more about the history of puppetry in Konoha better then anyone in her own village. She wished she could learn more about him to try and steer the conversation.

"So how are we going to defeat the Kuki clan?" Tenten asked trying to keep talking.

"It depends." Kankurou seemed tired of talking, "If it's a small clan we'll swoop in and crush them. If it's a large clan then we cut off exits, close in on two sides and then crush them."

"Are you only interested in puppetry just because you were sent here to spy on me?" Kankurou finally led a question, "Or do you really have an interest in it?"

"Oh yes!" Tenten was grateful that she finally got a chance to talk personable, "I think puppets are very exquisite weapons and I'm into all things weapons! I've even studied the chakra string technique, I tried to see if I could incorporate it with a my throwing weapons but couldn't make enough strings for each weapon, it took so much concentration just to make one! I eventually found it more practical to use wire instead."

"A simple yes would have worked." A bored looking Kankurou said, "If you don't 'get' puppets, then maybe you just need to work with one to appreciate one." Kankurou quickly summons one of his puppets, "This friendly fellow is my primary puppet: Karasu. Now, you said you can at least make one string, so try and connect one string to his head." Kankurou began walking away backwards.

"OK" Tenten began to concentrate. It was quite a feat to attach the string to the puppet from a couple yards away. But she eventually did. "Alright, I think I got it."

"Good, now try and move him." Kankurou said with a big grin on him face. Tenten strained and waved her arms but the head only nodded slightly.

"Good, good! Now try and attach another string to one of his arms." Kankurou's grin grew wider.

Tenten began smiling too. The second string was easier to attach, but maintaining them was really difficult. "I did it!"

"Great, now watch this..." Kankurou said while raising his hand. Two chakra strings shoot out to the spots where Tenten's strings were. In an instant Tenten's chakra strings were over powered and an impulse shot down the lines exploding at Tenten's fingertips, twisting and breaking her fingers. She lets out a cry of pain.

"There, you see? It very difficult for someone who is unfamiliar with a puppet to control it, now I'm going to control Karasu, and you try to overtake me. You'll be surprised at what will happen." Kankurou said with a bright smile.

"No way, you ASS! You broke my fingers!!" Tenten, was pissed.

"Oh, they broke? That's too bad." Kankurou offered his condolence with the same smile on, "Most people just get ruptured fingertips. What's best is getting those set. And you should save those questions of yours for another night, now you need your rest."

"What the hell's wrong with you?!" Tenten shouted, "You broke two of my fingers! Are you completely demented?!"

"What the _hell_ is wrong with me is I'm very, very sleepy." Kankurou said as cute as a button, "Now I can't get any sleep with you asking all your little questions can I?"

Tenten could not believe she was going to just have to sit here and take this. She was taping her fingers to a small splint while trying to figure out how to reap revenge against Kankurou. She figured a nice fire based jutsu would be adequate when she realized, she can't make any hand signs. That ass crippled her during a mission. Tenten thought that she knew how to handle crazy people from teaming up with Gai and Lee but Kankurou was brutal.


	4. The Meeting

The trip was a rousing new experience for Tenten. She had never spent so much time with someone who could knock her off her guard constantly and so imaginatively. When running to find the Waterfall village she could never tell if Kankurou was next to her or if it was one of his puppets and he was resting on it's back while it ran. When the terrain finally showed trees, they would leap from branch to branch. Kankurou would practice genjutsu on Tenten and make her think that there was a branch under her foot where there wasn't just to watch her fall.

He was always like that, standing over her, making his petty jokes, and laughing at her face. Tenten was beside herself, she knew she wouldn't make any head way as Kankurou's lackey she needed to get closer to him to befriend him to get the info, but he was constantly being a total ass to her. She needed to do something to break this chain so they can work together.

When the environment looked more familiar to Tenten, Kankurou announced that they were getting close to the hidden Waterfall village. They were making their way there when Kankurou stopped. "There are about five ninjas ahead" He said with a serious look. "we must be closer to the entrance then I originally thought. Tenten, what's the name of that annoying guy on your team?"

"You mean Rock Lee?" This sudden question threw off her off again.

"Yeah, Rock Lee." said Kankurou as he transformed into Konoha's beautiful green beast. Then made a sinister 'nice-guy' pose.

Tenten froze as she stared at this creepy mock Rock Lee. He had all of Kankurou's mannerisms as he stalked ahead. "Why... are you... disguised... as Rock Lee?" Tenten uttered.

"Those guys up there are probably Waterfall ninjas" Kankurou explained with a snide look that Lee could never make, "it wouldn't be too uncommon for a couple of Konoha ninjas to be in the area, as you're practically neighbors. But if they spotted a Suna and a Konoha it would look suspicious. If we go about our business, don't stop and keep moving they'll just overlook us."

Despite how distracting it is to watch Kankurou look like Rock Lee, he was right. She could now sense the five ninjas ahead. They seem to be moving this way and they will just pass us. Kankurou begins leading her away from their path so they won't cross each other. But then they altered their course too.

"They're flanking to intercept us." Kankurou turned and spoke to Tenten, "They probably just want to talk, so lets find a nice place to say hello." With his evil smile.

Kankurou led Tenten to a clearing with some wooded area behind them for a quick retreat. It wasn't long before the five were on them. They were dressed in orange yogi robes with over sized prayer beads all over them. One had his whole head covered in prayer beads, another his whole right arm, the others similarly done up. The one in front was a big fat man wearing a wicker hat.

The two groups were eying each other. There wasn't a friendly vibe in the air, as each measured up the other. The fat man in front had smug look on his face. He looked at the two kids in front of him with a longing, like he expected them to speak first.

"Pardon us" Kankurou began to feign Rock Lee's voice and mannerisms now, "we are just passing through after returning from a mission. If you have business with us, speak it." Kankurou began to brace himself for their first words, like if he wasn't prepared their words would blow him away.

The fat man looked at the sun through the wicker hat. He seemed to be a man who appreciates an Autumn day. "They call me "Buddha" Kuki. Ejiki has told me you would be coming, Kankurou. And that you would bring me three presents." 'Buddha's' gaze drifted to meet theirs.

The moment Kankurou's eyes met 'Buddha's' he knew what had to be done, without breaking eye contact, he spoke to Tenten, "Kill em'." Kankurou leap up into the air and in a huge poof of smoke landed as his black clad self in full make up, with all of his puppets poised around him. Karasu and Kuroari advanced and surounded the five men while the largest, Sanshouou, stayed and guarded Kankurou's left side. Tenten fanned out and already had her hand ready to deal out.

'Buddha's' men closed in and held their hands low in front of themselves and made a series of deft, swift hand signs. At the sight of their maneuver, Karasu began to dive into them, intended to break up the small circle. But to Kankurou's confusion, Karasu stopped short and didn't move. He tried to focus and see what was going wrong. But he felt immediate danger and attempted to leap away but Sanshouou had lunged and bit down snaring Kankurou's left arm above the elbow. Sanshouou whipped Kankurou into the air like a rag doll and was attempting to gore him.

Meanwhile, the two men from the Kuki clan with beads covering their head and arm, were rushing towards Tenten. They fought like men possessed. Tenten threw her blades with careful aim, making sure to cover all their spots that they could turn to dodge. But the men used a sweeping melee combat, that Tenten didn't recognize, to deflect the projectiles. They rushed close and, in syncronized motion, assalted her. The poor girl they were beating on disappeared in a puff of smoke, while behind the man with the arm covered Tenten reappeared with her bow staff in hand.

She landed a quick crack against his face and moved the poll straight into his ribs. Viciously twirling the staff to get some distance. She felt Karasu land behind her and punched her with a sloppy right hook. Tenten fell back to encompass the fight against three foes. "Kankurou!!" she yelled, "What are you doing with your puppets?!" But when she looked over to see what Kankurou was doing. She found Kankurou's two other puppets teaming up with the three other men from the Kuki clan ganging up against Kankurou.

Tenten made an areal maneuver, pegging the two men and puppet that were attacking her, with this move she threw several dagger into one of the Kuki clan members that was attacking Kankurou. He let out a sharp cry and keeled over. With that Sanshouou also dropped to the ground. The two men fighting Tenten deflected most of the onslaught with only a few hidden blades hitting them. But Karasu took it all and when she landed the puppet tackled her. The blades stuck in its body now cut Tenten as it grappled with her.

The strength of the puppet was surprising. Its grip didn't want to let her go and its coordination was improving, like someone learning to walk again. The two men were closing in on Tenten, they had blades in hand and were ready for the kill. Tenten produces a chain scythe and starts whipping it around. She makes a swing at the approaching men, the man with his head covered falls back to avoid it, but the man with the beads on his arm isn't so fast and receives a deadly gash on his neck, with his head barely staying on his shoulders. The scythe returns and lands with a thud on Karasu's back.

With a downward pulling motion, Tenten grabs the short handle of the scythe and cuts off one of Karasu's arms. This is the break she needed to escape. The man with his head covered rushes in to start a new melee, but Tenten suddenly produces a long sharp spear and braced herself. The man tried to slow down, to deflect, or anything but couldn't stop and ran straight into the spear and impailed himself. Tenten then swung the dead weight of the man into Karasu, who had a hard time getting up from all that.

Tenten then pulled out a heavy, long samuri's katana. With the hilt in both hands, and blade hanging low. Tenten dashed to one of the Kuki members that was attacking Kankurou, with a brief raise of the sword and the swift precise cut against the man's back, he fell to his knees gurgling his own blood. As this man suffered his last moments, Karasu showed new strength, throwing the man off of itself and began rushing to the others aid. As Karasu made its mad dash to the other man its legs gave out and landed face first in the dirt; lifeless. Tenten then looked back at the man she just slain and saw he was breathing no more.

Her attention turned to 'Buddha' who had been viciously beating Kankurou with the aid of Kuroari. When Tenten approached with sword raised, ready to deal a blow to end 'Buddha', Kuroari leap up and poised itself in between the two. The sword dropped and would have sliced Kuroari in two, but the puppet caught the blade in its claw like hands. With a massive push, the puppet knocked Tenten back. With this break 'Buddha' saw that his men had been killed. He shot a disgusted look at Kankurou and a smirking glance at Tenten as he and Kuroari fled then disappeared.

Tenten approached the battered Kankurou, when she got close she could here him half raving, "My puppets... they took my puppet... must get... my puppets..." He was in horrible shape but he was pulling himself with one hand trying to recover his two puppets still here. Tenten tried to move him somewhere safe where she could tend to his wounds and stop his bleeding, but Kankurou pushed her away, then stopped "Wait..." he said, "hold this arm,... I can't move it..." Tenten then raised his arm, despite his looks of pain he made some hand signs, "Entrap!" With that word the puppets returned to their scrolls. Kankurou just about passed out after that.

Kankurou's bleeding looked to be the worst of his problems, Tenten saw to that first. Quickly tying off the wounds, Tenten went with Kankurou and his scrolls off to find shelter. A short distance Tenten found a river, and all throughout the embankment were a series of caves. Tenten picked a dry one and laid Kankurou there. She couldn't believe what Kankurou got them into. She was pretty badly hurt too, but Kankurou had to be looked at first.

First thing Tenten did was strip Kankurou to better see how badly he was injured. She took water from the river to wash off all the blood, dirt, make up, and sweat. He was bleeding from his right temple, his left arm looked thoroughly chewed up, two puncture woulds on his right leg, and his whole body looked badly bruised. Tenten couldn't tell how bad his internal injuries were. She was worried that his drifting in and out may have been cause by a concussion.

From one of his puncture wounds Tenten pulled out a piece of broken steel. She then dressed and cover his wounds. His left arm had to be almost entirely covered, she made a makeshift sling for him too. The bleeding wasn't going to stop unless the wounds were either sewn shut or cauterized, so Tenten started a small fire. While the fire was starting Tenten looked to herself. Most of her cuts from grappling with Karasu were pretty shallow, some would also need to be sewn shut. Tenten went by the river where she could wash herself off.

As Tenten splashed the water on her face arms and chest, she saw something stumble out of the cave. Kankurou was barely standing, apparently out of his mind, and worst, naked outside of his bandages, and was staggering towards Tenten. Tenten tries to get him back in the cave so he can rest, but he pushes her to the side and points with his good arm at the sky with a deranged look on his face. Tenten looked up and saw a V of geese flying overhead.

"Kankurou, those are just geese, you need to rest right now. You shouldn't be moving!" Tenten said. But Kankurou kept pointing and staring at the birds in flight. Tenten looked back up to see what he why he kept pointing. And saw just in time for one of the geese in the back of the V's neck snap flat against its back in jerk motion that pulled it towards Tenten and Kankurou.

The goose landing in front of them. Tenten stared at the bird. Kankurou looked at Tenten, "I'm hungry, cook that." Then he turned around to return to the cave but couldn't walk the distance without falling. Tenten bit her lip out of anger. Here Kankurou was at his weakest and he still has to show her up some way. But the sight of Kankurou naked and battered, falling over on himself was too pathetic to stay mad at. Tenten helped him back into the cave.


	5. The Camp

The fire had grown quiet large. Tenten placed a long, thin dagger in the glowing ambers in the bottom of the fire. The end of this blade had become a iredescent red when Tenten pulled it out, she slipped a piece of wood between Kankurou's teeth, and with a hiss cauterized the biggest gash on his arm. Kankurou, still drifting in and out was pulled into reality with that searing pain. He let out a cry from the shock of it. Tenten sealed his other wound similarly, this time Kankurou didn't cry out, but his face showed he didn't like it. For the cut on his temple Tenten decided to sew that shut, it was tricky to do with her broken fingers, but she got the job done.

Kankurou was completely exhausted from all this and laid himself out and went to sleep. Tenten went through her bag to get a blanket to put over him. She paused before covering him. More then girlish curiosity made her look but when she did she saw that his whole body was covered with scars. Healed over laceration and stab wounds were everywhere, but the most noticeable was this huge scar that seemed to go from his back to his chest. It looked like someone tried to remove his skin with a belt sander. It reminded her of the scars Rock Lee got form his fight with Gaara, but those were only on his arm and leg. It looked like Kankurou had actually survived Gaara's desert coffin.

A chill ran down Tenten's spine as she gazed at Kankurou's raw muscular form. She threw the blanket over him and turned around. "After the hard time he's been giving me, and all his stupid little jokes. It looks like he's paid a hefty price to get to where he's at. My God, he's only a year older then me and it looks like he's lived five life times more then me. No wonder he's a Jounin." Tenten thought.

Tenten turned away from Kankurou and focused on her injures. Sewing shut her wounds, she thought of the earlier fight. It all seemed wrong. How Kankurou's puppets turned against him happened too fast and simply. Kankurou broke her fingers to prove that it wasn't possible to force control of his puppets. How Kankurou disguised himself before 'Buddha' Kuki meet with us, but 'Buddha' knew who he was immediately. Those Kuki clan members knew too much.

She began to feel on edge. What was this clan's secret that they could see through Kankurou's tricks? "Ejiki has told me you would be coming, Kankurou. And that you would bring me three presents." Were 'Buddha's words. Perhaps he didn't see through his disguise but only knew a "Kankurou" was coming, and what of these three presents? His puppets? Ejiki. She was dead before Tenten met Kankurou. How could she bring a message to her clan before she died, Tenten saw when Kankurou was chasing her before Tenten impersonated Minami.

After she dressed her wounds Tenten continued on to prepare and cook the goose which Kankurou had killed. But her mind was on the Kuki clan. "No. Ejiki couldn't have had time to send a message." Tenten thought "From what Kankurou said, he poisoned her before she could escape. Maybe she had an accomplice? No. If she did have one and they left the night she was captured then they shouldn't have known that we would come to their village. And if her accomplice did leave at the same time as us to follow us, we should have detected them. No, there couldn't have been a accomplice. The Kuki clan must have some form of unnatural communication..."

Unnatural. That word put a wild thought in Tenten's head. "Maybe they can communicate with ghosts." She found herself uttering out loud. Tenten didn't like the idea that Kankurou had been carrying Ejiki's dead body in a summoning scroll, but the thought that her soul had warned her family, really gave Tenten the creeps. "Can ghosts possess puppets?" Tenten stopped what she was doing at the thought of this question. The men she fought moved in a fighting style she didn't recognize, like they moved backwards and lacked any discerning motion to broadcast their moves. Kankurou's puppets seemed to fight in that style too when he lost control.

The smell of the goose fat dripping in the fire arouse Kankurou from sleep. He moved slowly, stretching and pulling off the blanket. Kankurou lazily looked about the small cave, then down at himself... and slowly pulled the blanket back over himself. "Where are my clothes?" Kankurou calmly asked.

"Your pack is by where your head was resting." Tenten said with a blush.

Then, without a single bit of modesty, Kankurou stood straight up. A ring of pain shot through him as he did. He then stooped to get his change of clothes out from his pack and dress himself. Tenten was frozen with shock from total lack of forewarning.

Kankurou fumbled with the clothes then fell over towards Tenten. He picked himself up and sat next to the fire. "Smells good." Kankurou said with a far off look in his eyes.

"Yeah, it'll be done in a minute." Tenten said with the daze of shock still lingering. This light headed Kankurou who doesn't seems to know where he is sitting is a far cry from the know-everything smart ass she had been traveling with.

Finishing dressing and going through his pack, Kankurou pulled out a large pill and ate it. He then started helping himself to the cooked bird. After a few bites Kankurou showed his normal face, but he still wobbled as he sat. Tenten asked how he felt.

"Just lack of blood." Kankurou said. "I'll be fine by tomorrow."

"Kankurou," Tenten asked "That fight didn't go right, what happened to your puppets?"

"...I don't know." Kankurou became grave, "I had control of my puppets, but they just moved on their own. It seems impossible but the Kuki clan has some jutsu that can possess them."

"But this doesn't change anything," Kankurou continued, "The plan is the same just the rules changed, I'm not going to let them get away with stealing one of my puppets. I just won't be able to use puppets against them."

"You don't have any idea how they did it?" Tenten asked.

"It doesn't matter." Kankurou grunted, "I've seen what they can do and I don't like it."

"I have an idea," Tenten finally stated, "I think they can summon spirits. When the men fought they fought like they were possessed, and the puppets fought similarly. And 'Buddha' said Ejiki warned him that we were coming, but she's dead. There's no way to track a body if it's in a summoning scroll. Maybe she was sent to get caught and killed so she can haunt you and get the information from you."

"Impossible. Just because you don't understand a new jutsu doesn't mean that ghosts are involved. Strange things happened but..." Kankurou pauses then speaks to himself, "The hollow vessel produces the best tone... "

"You may be right but you shouldn't focus on HOW but on WHAT" Kankurou told Tenten. "We know WHAT they can do and that's all we need to know to defeat them. But that was very clever of you piece that together. If they can summon ghosts then Suna puppet would be an ideal thing to possess."

"But why the Suna's puppets?" Tenten asked.

"You don't need to know that yet." Kankurou said with a glance. "Tenten, why would you get involved with a spy mission? You're obviously better equipped for battle and not infiltration."

"I wanted to test myself." Tenten said with some thought, "Tsunade gave me this assignment special and I wanted to prove my worth."

"Unfortunate..." Kankurou said to himself, "You did pretty good out there today, from what I saw. Quite the variety of attacks."

"Thanks, I try and keep it mixed up out there." Tenten said with genuine pride.

"You lost a few of your weapons on the field, I hope that won't hinder you. Tell me, how many weapons do you have left?" Kankurou asked.

After a moment's thought Tenten said, "About 4,967 individual weapons, 1,500 are explosive or 'special' weapons, the rest are regular melee." She kind of bounced when she spoke about her weapons.

Kankurou was shocked, "4,967?! Were you planning on invading to find out about the Puppet Army?!"

Tenten giggled, "No. This is just my light pack, normal missions I carry my real arsenal."

"Shheeesh. I know I shouldn't ask but... How much is in your normal arsenal?" Kankurou hesitated.

"Oh, normally I carry 50,000 strong. It keeps me ready for whatever the world can throw at me." Tenten said while patting a small summoning scroll.

"Impressive, really. But it sounds unyielding for someone as small as you." Kankurou says with a smirk.

Quickly his smirk flinched in pain as Tenten snapped a coin between two fingers, pegging Kankurou's recently closed wound, "No. The task of juggling these has never been a problem."

"I can see." Kankurou says while rubbing his arm. "That's pretty sharp of you."

He smiles at her with his wicked grin and calculating eyes. Tenten feels a faint blush overcome her face. Kankurou has smiled like this before but now this smile was for her. His eyes rested on her like a cat in repose.

Though his make up has been washed off, his face was covered with very bad bruises that seemed to make for a better mask then the paint. Kankurou always seemed to have a veil over himself. But looking into his eyes Tenten could see a driving passion that moves and pulls the strings of his secrets. Looking into his eyes is like looking into light shining through that veil.

"Come on" Kankurou finally broke away, "We should relocate camp."

"Oh. Yes." Tenten recomposed herself, "Don't forget to leave the dead girl scroll here."

Kankurou pulled the scroll out with his good hand and threw it deep into the cave. He gathers his pack and scrolls and starts to walk for the cave entrance, he shoots a glance at Tenten. "Alright, lets go. Bright eyes."

The two leave the cave together. The fire they left still smoldering.


	6. The Fire

The next morning the two were preparing for the assault on the Kuki compound. Kankurou finished reattaching Karasu's arm and was putting on his make up. Tenten watched as he put on a base of pale white.

"Why do you do that?" Tenten asked in a snotty tone.

"It's special." Kankurou replies without stopping, "Do you know how this paint is made?"

Tenten shakes her head no.

"To make this special kind of purple, you have to combine the red blood of a living person with the indigo blood of a dead person." Kankurou says without turning his head, "That's how you make this color."

"Now." Kankurou turns to reveal his new, more aggressive pattern on his face, "it's just about time to kill."

Before leaving Kankurou started digging through a pocket that carried a variety of scrolls. At the bottom he pulls out a small package wrapped in black cloth. He unwrapped it to reveal that it was a black head band with the Suna forehead protector. When Kankurou unwrapped it a small paper object fell out. It was a worn paper crane.

Kankurou put on his forehead protector and then picked up and delicately unfolded the paper crane. On the center of the square sheet there were the unmistakable marking of a summoning jutsu. Kankurou places his hand over the unfolded paper and with the command "RELEASE." Two swords and holsters were bellow his palm.

Slipping the swords on his back Kankurou was ready. Tenten had a less ceremonious morning ritual. She arranged her scrolls and short daggers on her person for quickest reach. Making sure most were concealed in her pink silk shirt.

Setting out and traveling up stream they quickly found themselves at the base of a great waterfall. Kankurou made a passing joke as they approached, "Dah, where is the entrance to the hidden Waterfall Village? Duh, I don't know, maybe behind the giant waterfall falling from this jutting plateau?" He shoots a smirking glance at Tenten who was stifling a laugh.

Stealthfully they enter the village and move around the area undetected. They move like the shadows of snakes: low and unseen. They take their time to move through the village to get a feel for the layout. It is a simple village and central in design. Finding the Kuki family compound was slightly difficult as it was a small distance from the back of the village.

They stood at the entrance, invisible to all except themselves. It was high noon and nothing was stirring in the compound.

"Do you think it is a trap?" Tenten asked.

"Possibly." Kankurou said thoughtfully, "I don't believe 'Buddha' is working with the Waterfall's ninja, just the Kuki family. But if they can communicate with the dead then our prescient will be revealed after the first we kill."

"So we'll have to cover the exits," Tenten says.

Kankurou stares into the collection of small houses that makes up the Kuki compound. The whole area was fenced in. "It looks like there is about 60 to 80 people living here. This is the one way in or out. You need to booby trap this entranceway with explosives. We'll then hit one of the building, that should draw them out. I'll move to the back of the compound and flush them to you at the entrance where we will wipe them out. We'll then go through the buildings to eliminate survivors. We set the place on fire and leave." Kankurou turns to look at Tenten, "Ready?"

Tenten starts barricading the entrance with explosive tags. Kankurou stands with his left arm still in the sling and charges the chakra in his left hand. Concentration, he wraps himself in chakra strings and pulls out one of his short swords with his right hand. He stands ready waiting for Tenten to finish.

At her sign the two advance on the nearest house. With Kankurou using his strings on himself he suddenly has new speed as he flings himself at the small home. Tenten entered through a window and Kankurou broke down the door.

An unfortunate woman was near the door that Kankurou came through. With one downward swing the woman was almost cut in two by the clever like sword. Her gurgling cry draws out two teenage boys from a back room. Confused and angry they rush in and Tenten stops them in their tracks with fist fulls of throwing stars and blades.

Sensing no one else in the house and a growing commotion outside, the two quickly make their exit. As predicted with the deaths of the first Kuki family the whole compound began to mobilize. It seemed all the men of the village and able body fighters had gathered in anticipation and they were descending on on that house. The swarm of orange robes looked like a cloud of locus.

These were ready fighters, prepared for the battle. Tenten fell back and buckled down to hold her position at the front of the compound. Kankurou cut through the middle of the mob of fighters, breaking them into two groups. The first group crashed down onto Tenten.

There were 30 men rushing towards Tenten. Most of them fought with that strange taijutsu but there were several well seasoned ninjas. The first weapon Tenten pulled from her arsenal was a mace and chain that looked over sized compared to her. With strength that didn't look to come from someone as small as Tenten, she ferociously whips the mace around. This created a perimeter as the Kuki ninjas stopped advancing and bunched up. Tenten released the spiked metal ball into the most dense part of her mob and with sequential motions fanned out a wave of throwing star and daggers into the rest of them.

The throwing weapons did little more then hold her perimeter for only a second, but that was all she was looking for. She sets off a flash bomb and with a majestic leap she flips behind the right flank of the blinded men. With part of the men in a row Tenten performs her twin dragon move. By the time the ninjas realized that she had relocated it was too late. An unavoidable wave of steel rained down on the men. After she executed her move, it felt like she had been struck by lightning. One of the Kuki ninjas had gotten behind her in the air and struck her with a terrible move then threw her to the ground, landing hard. The other men began to take advantage and encircle her.

Kankurou had been able to move faster then the men that were chasing him. His chakra strings were sling shooting him so it was difficult for them to catch up. After Kankurou had reached the end of the compound he stopped and watched them advance. The men moved in bunches of lines trying to close in. Kankurou shot through one of the weaker lines and hacking up two of the Kuki ninjas.

He then moved through the other lines in a zig zag pattern slicing what he could but kept moving. After cutting through their lines like that, Kankurou tried to get them to move closer into one group by circling them. Circling like that allowed some of the Kuki ninjas to pick up on Kankurou's patterns and Kankurou quickly found himself dodging throwing knifes and other blades. A couple of the blades hit their target but Kankurou had to keep moving. He began corralling this group back to the entrance where Tenten was holding off her adversaries.

Tenten found the Kuki ninjas viciously descending on her when she produced a halberd and twirling it around and spinning herself to regain balance. The bladed end had severed several of the men's legs. Tenten then used the shaft end as a pole vault to raise herself back onto her feet. With a few more flitting swings Tenten cleft the chin of one of the men with the blade of the halberd then sunk the spear point into his chest.

With a swift move that looked like a juggler's trick, Tenten materialized a dozen throwing hatchets. She threw them into the crowd of men with percision accuracy. Many of the ninjas tried to block the quick blades with their hands and arms with painful, debilitating results. With this front line injured Tenten tossed a bomb to them and leaped another gymnast's jump twirling over the wall of men behind her. In the air she was open to attack, and several blades had hit her, but as she twisted and twirled they couldn't get a clear shot and wasn't seriously hurt.

The explosion rattled the compound. Everyone was blown back, even Tenten was knocked down. The unfortunate men in front of the bomb were turned to a sloppy red mist that sprayed everyone.

Kankurou, upon seeing the explosion on the other side of the compound, feared someone made a dash for the exit and set off the booby trap. He started to head straight for the site, abandoning any attempt of corralling the men who peruse him. Upon arriving, Kankurou saw the chaos up close, Tenten was getting back to her feet as only ten able body living Kuki ninjas were stirring. Kankurou closed in next to Tenten to talk.

"It seems you've been busy." Kankurou said with a cruel grin.

Tenten was winded from her battle so far and shot Kankurou a look of annoyance.

"Don't worry, there was another ten waiting in ambush and I've flushed them out and killed them. Now we only have 40 more of these Kuki ninjas to kill." Kankurou said as his pursuer arrived and Tenten's adversaries began to raise to their feet.

Tenten huffed then prepared for the second wave. Kankurou had left more of his pursuers alive but most were badly injured, Tenten's final adversaries were all dazed from the explosion. Kankurou shoots out from where he stood to behead and hack the remainder of Tenten's adversaries. Tenten threw knifes at the wounds of the advancing ninjas. This caused many to retract in pain.

She then pounces on them with a long handled sledge hammer, cracking their skulls leaving them writhing on the ground. One of them caught the hammer and was wrestling it from Tenten when Kankurou lunged behind him and split him open with his sword. The remaining Kuki ninjas were surrounding the two.

Kankurou laughed as the men approached them. Tenten whips out a tall naginata and with a large sweeping motion slices at the advancing men. One of the men drops to his knees after Tenten slashed his neck with her blade. Kankurou shot out from where he stood and punched through the line of ninjas. Hacking and slashing, moving in a zig zag forcing them into Tenten's naginata.

The Kuki ninjas tried to put up a fight against the two. But their close quarters taijutsu wasn't any match for Kankurou's sharp, speed or the reach and accuracy of Tenten's naginata. The last of the Kuki ninjas was injured and blood splattered, looking at the desperate situation. He faced his end and wanted to find some way out, but the only exit is blocked by the two people who had killed his family members.

With a warriors cry he charges at the two. But with his second step he pathetically fell on his face as if his foot was pulled out from under him. Kankurou walked up to this sad sight. The Kuki man had tears running down his face. Not from fear, but from knowing the inadequacy he posed and could to nothing to revenge his fallen comrades. Kankurou bluntly slashed the fallen man's head open.

The two were now taking in the toll of what they had done. The Kuki compound was made up of two rows of houses and a large building at the end. There were bodies all round. They had killed 70 in total. Kankurou began to walk up to the house on the opposite side from where they hit their first house.

"I'm going to check this row for survivors. You check the other. We'll meet in front of that big hall." Kankurou said, and entered the small house. A shrill cry was heard then cut short.

Tenten was breathing heavily. She didn't like the idea of killing innocent women and children, but she found herself walking up the first house regardless. She moved inside the house without thinking. Years of training on how to search a place left her just going through the motions, hoping to find nothing. But in one of the bedroom closets she found two children huddled.

She paused as she found these scared kids. Just looking at them. Then suddenly the little girl lunged at her. She must have channeled the spirit of one of her fallen family members as this little girl perfectly performed the strange taijutsu on Tenten. The sharp pain rang through her body and as a reflex she threw a dagger at the girl. It pegged her in the face and she went down hard. Tenten then looked at the little boy and he was attempting a hand seal. Tenten ended his attempt with a bowie knife.

Unnerved by how easy that was Tenten finished searching that house and moved on to the next. She now understood why Kankurou insisted on killing the children too. If a child is left to raise themselves surrounded by death like this they will be haunted by their pasts and driven mad. Especially these children who have the dead talk to them.

Kankurou was already at the entrance of the large building when Tenten arrived. "Did you find 'Buddha' in any of those houses?" he asked. Tenten simply said no.

"Neither did I, nor found my puppet. That just leaves one place for them to hide. Come on." Kankurou said with worn look on his face.

The first reception room was small, dark and paneled. Lit by only one candle. There was a single door to the back that they opened to reveal a huge chamber. Like a church. Statues were everywhere. The whole place was lit by candles with long shadows reaching into the rafters. There was a stillness in the air like a sense of waiting.

Behind them they heard a soft bang that made them turn around. Next to the small chamber they just left were curling, stone stairs leading down; the sound had come from them.

"I'll check it out. You check up here." Said Kankurou softly, and made his way down the stairs.

Bellow was a long hallway. In arches sunk into the walls were life sized dolls wearing armored outfits. Kankurou examined them to see if they were puppets but found them to just be prop dummies. He slowly walked until he was at the end of the hall and facing the last dummy. This one was missing it's armored dress.

Tenten was exploring the upper chamber slowly. Trying to sense anything when suddenly... "I can't believe you did it." a voice could be heard, echoing all over the chamber, "You killed them. All of them. But it doesn't matter. So long as I am alive, the Kuki clan will be revived."

"Maybe I shouldn't kill you. Maybe I should capture you. That would be a more fitting punishment. Having you be MY prisoner. Your children growing up hating you knowing you killed so many from their clan." The voice seemed to bounce off every wall and stature. Tenten kept turning trying to decipher where it was coming from.

"Yes, they would hate you because everyday they would hear the cries of vengeance from all those you killed today just like I'm hearing now." the voice continued, "You see, we here of the Kuki clan have blood line ability to communicate with our ancestors. Anyone with our blood line can see and hear our dead relatives, we can even let them take possession of our bodies."

"Not just our bodies but anything, we can channel our ancestors into anything. But not anything can a ghost control. But I figured it out, I'm clever like that, I figured out what our ancestors can possess. The puppets from Suna. And do you know what makes them so special?! I figured it out, I'm clever like that, you see. What makes Suna's puppets so special is they use a living thing to make them from. So Suna's puppets aren't quiet living and aren't quite dead. Isn't that clever?"

Tenten felt the hot breath on her neck with that last question. She spun around to find 'Buddha' but found nothing. 'Buddha' had went mad with grief from the loss of his family. Tenten needed to get a clear idea where he was before she could attack.

Down bellow at the end of the hall, Kankurou was turning around and saw, in a in a previously empty arch, a man was crouched down and sitting. He was wearing a strange stacked armor that looked like petals of a flower. His skin looked like it was made of gold and had two long horns growing from his forehead.

"Impressive. Truly impressive." the gold man said, "Tell me. What is the name of the puppet I took?"

Kankurou narrowed his eyes and stared at him. "Kuroari" he bluntly states.

"Kuroari... Black ant." the gold man said as he raised his head to look at Kankurou, "Amazing the amount of power that can come from a start so small."

"You shouldn't underestimate the life force of a creature that can lift 300 times its own weight." Kankurou said coldly as he gripped his sword.

"My name is Matsuri." the gold man said with a smile.

Unable to stand more, Kankurou swings his sword down to kill this Matsuri but only hit a swirl of leafs and dust. Matsuri appeared behind Kankurou and grabbed his good arm with the sword trying to force it on Kankurou's throat. Kankurou performs a fancy trick and flips this gold man over his back and frees his arm. The two square off.

Tenten still was slowly walking in the upstairs chamber. The flickering candle light made strange shadows. She was starting to feel like there there were eyes all around here. Like the ghosts were all there, in that room with her, plotting, whispering.

The atmosphere of that room felt like a dream. She couldn't tell if she was alive or dead. "Shouldn't a clever man get what he wants?" The voice continued, "I mean, they do in the end, that's why they're clever. With the secret of the Suna puppets I will build new bodies for all the deceased Kuki clan members. And I will make them better."

Within her peripheral vision she saw a slight nod motion and in a flash produced a javelin and nailed the spot. A cry shot out and large figure tumbled to the ground. Tenten watched as it fell.

Kankurou was only able to keep up with Matsuri. His strange taijutsu was far superior to the others and in this narrow hall, he had the advantage. Kankurou used a form of chakra string enhanced wing chung to push and pull Matsuri's moves to his advantage and sliced open his belly with the sword. But no blood, only a swirl of dust and leafs.

Matsuri laughed and became more aggressive and knocked the sword from Kankurou. Kankurou was being back up against the wall and wasn't making any progress. Some of Matsuri's hits would get through and they felt like bolts of lightning, everyone made Kankurou's knees want to give out. But he stood his ground, back against the wall, fighting one handed against this former master of the Kuki clan.

Tenten approached the slumped over body that fell to the floor. The shadows made it look like a hundred different people lying there, people she knew. Then suddenly it looked like the man came to life and pulled out the javelin and threw it back at her, but instead of a javelin it was a thousand razor daggers. Tenten dodged most, but several hit her.

Then Guy-Sensei stood up from that spot, and then it was her father that stumbled off away, it was Neji who looked back to see if Tenten was still there. 'Buddha' was working some genjutsu that made his appearance change in the flickering candle light. It was very disorienting for Tenten. She chased after him but it felt like she was running through cotton.

She didn't let any of these deceits slow her down, she pulled out a straight katana and held it in both hands. Asuma was staggering holding his bleeding shoulder. Then it was Kakashi pulled out a knife, with an angry face looking like he would hold his ground. But then the light shifted and Kiba stood there and exhaled a huge black cloud. Tenten didn't break stride, these maddening mind tricks were getting the better of her and she didn't care if the cloud was a smoke screen or poison or worse.

Tenten cut through the cloud and felt the blade hit flesh. A cry went out and a wet sound of a body hitting the ground and crawling away. The smoke block Tenten's vision but she followed the death rattle sound. She stabbed her sword down into the sound as the last sounds of life spilled from the form. Tenten waited for the smoke to lift and there with her sword sticking out from him was 'Buddha' Kuki.

Kankurou held his ground to Matsuri. He knew that a fight against his puppet would turn into a battle against time. And as predicted the moment 'Buddha' passed there was nothing to hold Matsuri's soul to earth. The gold warrior slumps down leaving a pile of leafs and dust with Kuroari sitting in all of it. Kankurou removed the gaudy armor that Matsuri dressed his puppet in and put away his trusted friend. He then picked up his sword and went up stairs.

Tenten didn't notice when it started but the building had caught on fire. Kankurou walked up to Tenten with a huge victory smile on his face. Tenten laughed with him in their victory.

"It looks like mission accomplished. Good job Tenten." Kankurou said with happy relieved look on his face. He moved in to give Tenten a hug and when she leaned in for the embrace her face froze and gurgled blood. Kankurou had sunk his sword deep in Tenten's stomach and pushed it up into her chest. Kankurou held a content look on his face as he watched Tenten start to fall backwards. But only a log hit the ground with a sword deeply imbedded in it.

Kankurou looked around the large flaming room. "So, in the end you didn't trust me?" He called out. Taking steps backwards.

"How could I trust someone who was hell bent on killing spy's." Tenten shouted from her hiding place. Throwing a quick succession of daggers and throwing stars. Kankurou dodging them haphazardly.

"Didn't I tell you?" Kankurou spoke to the spot the blades came from. "having a dead foreign ninja turn up in your village is bad news. I had to do something about Ejiki's disappearance. And the best place to hide a tragedy is in an even bigger tragedy. You were so eager to be my patsy too."

That's when it dawned on Tenten, that Kankurou had been preparing her for taking the fall. Breaking her fingers so she can't perform jutsu, disguising himself as Rock Lee when they thought guards were approaching, everything. He was going to have her take the fall for killing the whole Kuki clan just to hide that he killed one of them in his village.

Kankurou moved closer to the spreading flames and stuck his hand in it. "Why don't you come out from hiding?" he said as the flames quickly spread from his hand. His body burned up like dry parchment and the ashes drifted up. Tenten was not distracted by this sight enough to miss Kankurou's lunge next to her with a dagger. She dodged but fell from the rafter she was hiding in.

On the ground she coughed from the smoke of the blaze that was spreading. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw 'Buddha's' corpse creep up, spitting blood and screaming. He pulls the sword out from himself, shaking his head like a rabid animal. 'Buddha' ran at Tenten with katana in his hands. Swinging down the killing blade on Tenten, but Tenten blocked with a new sword.

As the two swords struck Tenten felt a stinging pain in her legs. She glanced down to see needles sticking out from her legs that had shot out from 'Buddha's' mid section. Tenten staggered back, as 'Buddha' stood there smirking and pointing the sword at her. 'Buddha's' skin crumbled away in a cloud of sand and only Karasu stood there. His chattering head replacing the smug fat man's face.

"Oh no." Were her thoughts. She knew she had been poisoned. But she couldn't let Kankurou get away with this. She was going to kill him in kind. Frustrated without any other ideas on how to flush Kankurou out, Tenten let loose and released her remaining six scrolls at once. The twirling explosion of blades was massive. The inside was decimated and half the building collapsed.

The fire blazed up as the building collapsed and the rush of air fed the flames. Tenten was worn out from that attack and was feeling the effects of the poison. But she didn't miss the unmistakable sight of Sanshouou in front of her. Kankurou leap out, he had a stern, pressed lip expression on his face.

Tenten tried to pull out a throwing knife and throw it at Kankurou, but when she did Kankurou threw a dagger at it and knocked it out of the air; walking closer. She tried to pick up some weapon she threw, anything. But she was badly staggering, she couldn't breath and was almost blind from the poison and smoke. She was gasping. Kankurou stood in front of her with his stern face and with both hands pushed her on the ground.

Watching her writhe as she struggled to do anything to survive. The heat from the fire was making beads of sweat run down Kankurou's face. He stood there, watching her. Kankurou wiped the sweat from his brow and smeared his make up, and stood there, watching her. The fire around them was consuming everything. And Kankurou watched.


	7. The Cat And Mouse Game

The pain was great. The burning fire, the suffocating smoke, the debilitating poison. On her back Tenten couldn't feel anything but the pain. But so long as there is pain, there must be a body to feel it. So she held onto the pain, it gave her something to focus on. She tried to move but she couldn't tell if anything reacted.

The worst was the heat. It was everywhere, it felt like her blood was boiling in her veins. It was terrible. It felt like a cool wash cloth was on her forehead. This last thought threw her off. Tenten forced open her eyes and was blinded momentarily by bright light. When her eyes focused she found she was in a small room and a little old lady was sitting next to her, rocking a baby to sleep in her arms.

Tenten was very confused. She looked down at herself and found that her arms were all bandaged up and she was wearing loose fitting cotton cloths and her long hair was down. Her whole body ached, as she sat up to look at her surroundings better.

It looked like this room held this woman's every worldly possession. There was a hearth in the middle of the room where a fire was slowly dying. The walls were covered with foods that were drying, and cooking implements. There were low seats next to the hearth and Tenten found she was on the only sofa.

This short old woman was lulling the baby to sleep. "It's good to see you awake." She said with a warm smile to Tenten, "You've been asleep for two days now."

Tenten tried to speak but found her throat too dry. The old woman sensed this and reached over and poured her a cool glass of sweet tea. Tenten almost choked from gulping it. The tea refreshed her and she felt alive again.

"How do you feel? Is there anything you need, dear?" The old woman asked

"I'm hungry. Where am I?" Tenten said in a horse voice.

"Here, dear, have some more tea. You're in my home, you can call me Granny Kuriya. As for something to eat I'm waiting for..." Granny Kuriya said as the front door opened and entered a young man carrying wood. "Ah! There's my dear now, with the fire wood. I'll have a good soup boiling soon."

The young man started feeding the fire then moved on to preparing the stock for the soup. He worked with a smile on his face and wore the same type of cotton cloths that Granny Kuriya wore, looked like he was from the village and came to help this old woman. Granny laid the baby down in her crib, and went to make the soup.

She was chopping some potatoes when she stopped, "Shoot. I'm out of chicken and milk. Gansaku-San, would you please continue cutting the potatoes and keep an eye on that dear over there. I'll only be a minute."

The boy picks up the knife and starts chopping the potatoes. Granny Kuriya leaves out the front door. Tenten lies there listening to the chopping sound but when it stopped she looked over. Gansaku-San was standing a short distance away with a grin on his face.

Tenten's eyes widen as she looked at this person. The face looked familiar but the grin was unmistakable. "Kankurou." she horsely spoke. His face was clean and uncovered. His hair was messy like he attempted to take care of it in the morning then gave up. His eyes were narrow and resting, and his nose was curved and made a striking profile. A handsome face with his sinister grin on his lips.

"Good morning Tenten." He said as he walks up to her, "Don't speak you're still dehydrated. Here." He drops a pill in her glass of tea that dissolves into fizz. "That will help you rehydrate."

Tenten looked at the foaming glass, then back at Kankurou. He was smiling, obviously loving the conflict he's making. Was this another trap? Or was he actually here to help? Kankurou then grabs the glass takes a drink then hands it to Tenten.

"Why am I here, Kankurou?" Tenten asked after a big drink of tea.

Kankurou paused for a moment as his smile faded, "I couldn't do it. In the end, when you were dying, I couldn't leave you. My plan was being executed perfectly but I just couldn't follow through."

"I'm sorry, Tenten, for tricking you like that." Kankurou continued, "But it seems to be working out, the Kuki clan had some rival clan in the village and with all those weapons you left they believe it was them that attacked. So it looks like we're both in the clear. Ejiki's scroll was also taken care of."

"Where are we?" Tenten asked.

"A small town. They live a simple life without ninjas here. By the way, I told Granny Kuriya your name was Sagi. That we were traveling performers but were attacked by bandits, we were the only ones to survive. Kuriya shouldn't ask too many questions." Kankurou said with the smile returning.

"So what's next? You team up with me, try and kill me then save me? You've had a full week, how do you plan on capping it off?" Tenten asked cynically.

"Well." Kankurou said thoughtfully, "I was going to keep my agreement with you and tell you about the Puppet Army."

Tenten sat up for this. "You're really going to tell me about it?"

"Yeah." Kankurou pulled up the only tall stool in the room, "Lets see, where to start. You may have guessed but the Red Sand Puppet Army is more then a military division of Suna. They're more powerful then ANBU or the council or even the Kazekage. Their control and reach even goes beyond Suna."

"Maybe I should start at the beginning." Kankurou looks at Tenten's disbelieving face, "The puppetry technique was created by Monzaemon Chikamatsu in what is presently Suna. His abilities were unmatched by anything, he could destroy whole armies and level castles. He had already built up a following and when the first Kazekage made the village, Chikamatsu incorporated himself into village. There he called his base the Red Sand's Puppet Army."

"The first Kazekage nor the council could ignore the strength of Chikamatsu or his followers. They quickly became the secret hands that moves the village. Councilmen can't be elected unless we choose them. We became the king makers of Suna. Gaara wouldn't have even been made Kazekage if it wasn't for me." Kankurou finally explained to Tenten.

"Do you see what I mean?" Kankurou asked, "The puppeteers control the motions in Suna politics. Not only there, but we have connections that reach everywhere. We are everywhere and no where. Understand?"

"Yes. Yes I understand." Tenten says choking her words, "Kankurou, why would you tell me this?"

"I promised I would. I couldn't kill you, so I'm fulfilling my promise." Kankurou says grimly.

"So now that I know this are you going to kill me again?" Tenten asked with angry eyes.

Kankurou paused with a very sympathetic look on his face, "I don't know..."

Before he could elaborate Granny Kuriya reentered with her basket full. "It's so good that your friend is awake. The sun is very warm today but the wind is cold. The soup will be ready soon, Gansaku, you didn't finish chopping the potatoes."

"I'm sorry, Granny Kuriya, I was looking after Sagi." Kankurou lied to the old woman.

"Oh that's all right, deary, just more potato for tomorrow." Kuriya said with a pleasant smile.

The soup was prepared quickly and Tenten got up to sit with the two next to the hearth. The soup was warm and nourishing, and made Tenten feel good all over. Pleasant conversation was held. It was almost surreal to change the topic from a world wide conspiracy that may threaten Tenten's life just for knowing of it, to hearing how Granny Kuriya trick the neighborhood dog to stop barking at night. After the meal they all moved outside so Tenten could get some fresh air.

Granny Kuriya and Tenten were sitting on chairs, enjoying the last rays of warm sunlight as they were a little chilled by the wind, when Kankurou joined them with his pack all ready to leave.

"Oh, you're not going to leave now, are you?" Granny Kuriya protested

"I'm sorry," Kankurou said, "I should have left a while ago but I just had to stay to make sure Sagi was alright."

"Are you really leaving?" Tenten asked.

"Yes." Kankurou looks into her eyes.

"I will walk you a little ways." Tenten says getting up.

They walk a short distance together, silently thoughts and words weighing on their faces.

"It's getting cold, the seasons must be changing." Kankurou says as he watches the last leaf fall from a tree.

"Yes, it seems they are." Tenten says looking at Kankurou.

Kankurou looks at Tenten, a thousand arms reaching out to her in his eyes. A longing for an embrace. Tenten looked back at him, not knowing what she really wanted but at this moment only wanted to be held by Kankurou. There eyes lock in a longing for confessions.

"So long." Kankurou says, breaking their gaze and walking away.

His stark figure walking among the cold wind and falling leafs, he looked like the loneliest man in the world. The cold wind then chilled Tenten to the bone tattooing her soul with this moment. Her heart filled with confusion and longing. She had to force herself to turn around and return to Kuriya's house.

There she found Granny Kuriya still sitting on the porch watching something. Tenten turned to see what it was and saw a cat chasing a mouse. Granny Kuriya sensed Tenten watching also.

"Despite popular belief, cats don't actually eat mice. That old Tom gets fed plenty well from me. No, they actually only chase mice for the sport of it. It's just a game to them." Granny Kuriya says watching the cat and mouse.

The cat corners the mouse, and bats it around. Bats it around until it dies. The cat then looks over the mouse, confused as to why it stopped moving. Picks it up and brings it to Granny Kuriya.

"See? He's done playing with it and now he's giving it to his master for a present." Granny Kuriya says taking the mouse and throwing it into the bushes. The old woman then gets up to go back inside.

"You should come along inside now, dear. It's getting awfully cold." Granny Kuriya beckons.

Tenten sat a moment longer staring at the cat. It had a proud, commanding look etched on his face like all cat do. It then got up and walked ahead of Granny Kuriya inside the house. Tenten also got up to enter the house, leaving the cold air of the night behind.

The end.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\

**Author's end notes.**

**Here it is: the completed _Cat and Mouse Games_. This story has been in my head for quiet a long time, or I should say bits and pieces have. The scene where Kankurou traps Tenten the first time at Suna is where this whole story started from. Other little scenes like Tenten in Kankurou's puppet when he talks to Gaara, Kankurou catching a goose with his chakra strings, breaking her fingers, the tragic betrayal, and them parting in the end were all small scenes I had in mind before I started writing.**

**I had a real hard time figuring out an interesting ability for the Kuki clan, originally they were a roaming ninja clan that ride giant tarantulas. Their goal was to steal Suna's puppets. Because nothing can stop the unstoppable combination of puppets and giant tarantulas!! MUWAHAHAHA For some dumb reason, the first thing I always think for a villain for one of my stories are roaming ninjas that ride giant tarantulas.**

**Also about the names of original characters, they're all just pulled (mostly) randomly from a Japanese dictionary. A few gag names in there. There were a couple things cut from this story too that were only hinted at. Guy mentioning the Doll House, it was going to be revealed that *gasp* Guy got this exact same mission when he first became a Chuunin. But when he took on the mission he went straight to the Puppet Army's main building, the Doll House, and he was the only person to have ever lived through infiltrating it. But by the end of the story there was no one to tell Tenten about it (could only be told if it ended in either Suna or Konoha).**

**There was also going to be a rival clan against the Kuki. A whole back story about how the Kuki clan focused too much of trying to revive the dead rather then focus on training the living and that was going to be their downfall. It still was their downfall, but instead of revealing this little nugget 'Buddha' goes crazy and threatens to force Tenten to bare his children to further the Kuki clan. There was also a small scene where 'Buddha' and Matsuri (in the form of Kuroari) are talking and Matsuri is attempting to make a hand sign with Kuroari's claw hands. This was originally going to be the exposition in chapter five to reveal them channeling their ancestor and the rival clan, but I didn't want to break the writing style of only showing things that Tenten can preceive.**

**In the end where Kankurou finally reveals that the Puppet Army is actually the Skull and Bones of Naruto's world I had to try really hard not to say Chikamatsu's Law. Chikamatsu's Law is a clever little bit dreamed up by Storymaster Caith in her story _Idle Conversation_. Props. **

**Thank you to everyone who reviews. I appreciate it. Special thanks to TechniclouredEyes for the helpful messages. I hope you all liked reading it, I learned a lot from writing it. Take care.**

**Bingo Zero**

**+*+**

**update! I had made a picture that is intended to be the cover for this story, and I finally uploaded it to my website, you can find the link on my profile.  
**


End file.
